


A Very Unlikely Champion

by Sickdisgusting



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II, Night In The Woods (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, But Worse, Canon Welding, F/F, F/M, Gregg rulez ok, Kirkwall is just possum springs, M/M, SO SORRY, im bad at updating fyi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:21:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28572192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sickdisgusting/pseuds/Sickdisgusting
Summary: After the Fifth Blight destroys her hometown of Lothering, Mae's friends and family are forced to relocate to Kirkwall.  Learn how Margaret "Mae" Hawke manages to survive seven extraordinary years of heartbreak, struggle, and success in this tale of A Very Unlikely Champion.
Kudos: 1





	A Very Unlikely Champion

What makes you think I know the Truth? 

Sure, I knew her before she was the champion. Your precious Chantry’s fallen to pieces and you think she can clean it up. Everythings about to fall to pieces, into a big black hole and nothing will come out of that. You hope she can breathe life into what's been dead huh?

Funny. You’re not the first person to think that about the Champion.

Okay. I’ll tell you what you want to know. Though I might just make it up as I go. 

The whole story...

In the year granddad died.  
The templars found us again.  
We had to move to another village,  
A new place, like the time before the last  
Casey Harley followed us on his Dad’s horse.  
I laughed even though he had to go back  
Grandad left an apple crate full of old histories  
He quoted them in his bed in the chantry,  
“They went looking for the Old Gods,  
And died in Lonely Places”  
On his last day  
He sat up suddenly  
And stared bug eyed through the window  
At the imperial highway  
Rearing to somewhere else  
From somewhere else  
He turned to my dad,  
Eyes still wide  
“In the name of the maker, so let it be.”  
He said  
And died. 

The Fifth Blight had come to Ferelden, King Calin was slain at the battle of Ostagar, betrayed by his most trusted General. 

The horde of Darkspawn ravaged northward, to the village of Lothering. Many innocents were slaughtered, The Champion’s friends and family barely made it out alive. 

The land had turned foul ahead of the darkspawn as the Blight took its toll on the countryside they fled on. The Hawke family, the Champion, her mother and father, fled with friends from the village Greggory, a local thief and recently conscripted arbalist, Angus, a Templar initiate, and Beatrice, the other village apostate.

No, that doesn’t prove anything more than the Champion’s leadership. It’s a quality that took her… sometime to realize. 

They had left the Imperial Highway sometime ago, and were forced to flee on open country. The darkspawn were closing in on them…

“Mae! Mae! Do something!” Gregg shouted as he ran from a patrol of darkspawn, a deep scratch emerged in his leather armor as a near miss arrow clipped his shoulder.  
A Genlock, stunted and foul with razor sharp teeth and an equally sharp blade jumped down from the nearby cliff at that very moment. As Gregg fell back and it reared up to deliver a sharp stab its head exploded from the blow of a large mace. 

“Good save Angus!” The blonde and blood splattered Gregg said as his boyfriend lifted him up off the ground. Angus replied with a quick nod and, huffing with exhaustion, turned and shouted.

“Mae! We need something to keep us moving, they’re practically on top of us.” 

“Sure uh, okay, okay what do I remember. Shit!” Margaret “Mae” Hawke, cursed the world, the blight, her fingers and most of all herself as two decades of training failed her as two Darkspawn converged on her. 

“Get away!” Using the Staff like a large club she batted aside the first dark spawn but the second was nearly atop her…

Before it was suddenly picked up and thrown aside by magical force. Before she could credit herself the source of this sudden turn made itself known on the cliff face. 

“Stop standing there and get moving!” Bea, as she liked to be called, came down the cliff. The rest of the gang fled while Mae remained behind. 

“Bea! You got it? Do you need help?”

“No you idiot! Run!” Taking the hint, Mae obeyed and at that moment fire erupted from her hands, creating a wall of pure flame that finished off the last of their pursuers. 

A few moments later they all caught their breath. 

“Maker help us! Everything we’ve built. Gone. I thought we’d finally made a home in Lothering.” Candy, Mae’s mother, had been barely keeping it together after fleeing from the village, like everyone else she had only fled with some small provisions. She had been at the chantry helping those taking refuge there when the warning came. 

“We will rebuild, we’ve done it before. Hawkes are tough.” Stanley had an arm around his wife, he was drenched with sweat. He was nearly fifty and had been conscripted to fight at Ostagar all the same, and was propped up against the cliff wall, “Been meaning to beat the old man, running away from Kirkwall with half the city’s templars after him. Well dad! I got a whole blight after me!” He put great effort to sound confident and sure of himself. Mae tried to ignore just how tired he looked and how disheveled his appearance was. 

“Dad I don’t think they’re just after you.” Mae said, the fact they were in this mess was her fault after all, might as well help keep mom distracted, “I’m sure Gregg has drawn the archdemons wrath just as well!” 

“He did well! Your friend is a good shot.”

“I wish I had been there too, I’d have liked to have helped.” As Mae said that she winced at the look her father gave.

“No Mae, no. I went for a reason, war is not a good thing for a young lady to see. Ostagar... wasn’t good Mae. Used to be you could count on us Fereldans sticking together, but after what Logain did. What happened to King Calian and the Grey Wardens…” 

He didn’t speak of Ostagar anymore. 

“How are you doing Mae?”

“Me? Oh I’m fine, this is cool. Adventure!” She lied. Her parents pretended not to notice.

They talked for a minute or two, long enough to calm themselves. Her mother wondered what became of the Lay Sister she was friends with, that had gone off before the whole mess. Mae privately wondered the same about many of her friends at town. Jeremy, what happened to him when the darkspawn hit? Casey? He still lived in Redcliffe, what was the blight doing there? 

She put those thoughts aside. The rest of her friends were gathered nearby, they didn’t dare even think about making camp, despite the soreness of their feet and the hunger in their bellies any moment the chase could resume. They needed to figure out the next move. 

As she approached Bae was the first one to speak, “Listen, I know how much Lothering meant to you and your family Mae. But we’ve gotta get moving soon, we don’t know where to go.” 

“We should’ve prepared sooner!” The initiate said, more loudly than he wished, “Gotten out and ran. Why did we wait so long?”

“Don’t know why you are looking at me Angus, I’ve been running since Ostagar with Mae’s dad.” Gregg said, fiddling with his crossbow. 

“Anyway Angus we couldn’t have, you were only able to get away from the order in the confusion.” The apostate said flatly. 

“I know! It's just… Maker Damnit!” The imposing former Templar practically growled, “I shouldn’t have let you go! We should’ve left as soon as we heard there would even be a battle.”  
“Cap’n, I know. But I had to, how else were we going to get the coin…”

“Listen! Guys!” Mae stepped in. “The darkspawn are gonna be back any minute, unless you hurry up and figure out what we are going to do we won’t have to worry about anything for much longer!”

“Well where do you think we should go Mae?”

“Um well.” She thought for a moment. “Aha! I’ve got it. Follow me!” Then, Mae simply took off in a vaguely Northward direction.

“You heard her!” Said Gregg, dusting himself off and following.

“Lead on Mae!” The Hawke parents said and fell in line.

Bae and Angus exchanged a glance before pursuing.

Behind them, the Darkspawn picked up the trail.

“So Mae.”

“Yeah!”

“Where are we going?”

Mae turned to Bea. “Away from the Darkspawn!”

“Yeah and…”

“And…. what?”

“What about after? We can’t just wander Fereldan aimlessly. We need to have some kind of destination.” 

“Why not?” Gregg called out, catching up to the pair, helping the Hawke parents up the cliff face. Angus stayed in the back, keeping an eye out for pursuers and to pace himself. 

“We could go around Fereldan and fight the darkspawn. Oh! Maybe we could become Grey Wardens and lead everyone against the Darkspawn. Maybe find Logain and kick him around some while we’re at it!”

Bea rolled her eyes, “Yeah sure Gregg, then while we're at we'll find Andraste's Ashes and kill the Archdemons ourselves.” 

Gregg nodded, “Wow! Hey Angus,” He called down, “Bea agrees with me for once! We are gonna be Grey Wardens!” 

“That’s.” He huffed, “Nice.”

“I think I might make a pretty good Grey Warden, all you gotta do is go flying around on chickens hitting darkspawn over the head.” Mae added thoughtfully. 

Bea was pinching her nose, “They don’t fly around on chickens Mae, they fly around on Griffons. Or they would. If they weren’t extinct.”

“Oh. So what do they fly on now?”

“Nothing Mae, the Grey Wardens have to walk like everybody else now. Except they don’t cause they all died. Do I need to remind you how Effed everything is right now?” 

“What about Kirkwall?” 

The party turned to face Mae’s Mother. The suggestion of going to the Free City was met with mixed messages.

Gregg was optimistic. “Oh! Yes! That's perfect!”  
Bea was cynical, “No. That's a terrible idea.”  
Angus was just skeptical, “But how?”

“Thanks mom, that’s a great idea.” She paused, “What’s a Kirkwall?”

“It's where me and Angus planned to go, once we saved up enough coin!” The rogue said in his too loud voice. 

“It was (One) of the places we thought about going to, after leaving Fereldan.” Angus admitted. 

Mae raised her eyebrow, “Huh, that’s news to me!”

“It's why I signed up for the army and he kept putting off leaving the Templars. We were gonna sneak off and take a ship out at Gwaren. Bum around the Free Marches, picking up Mercenary Contracts and the like.”

“I think you all are forgetting one big problem with this plan.” Bea interjected, “Kirkwall is full of Templars, practically a whole city of them and in case nobody noticed both me and Mae are apostates.”

That did sound inconvienent to the future champion. “Oh. That's a good point. Why pick Kirkwall?”

But it was Stan who answered, “Because” Her father said, “It was where your Grandfather and Grandmother first met, and it's where I was born. We have family there. Your Great Uncle Gamlen, on my side, has our old estate.”

“Estate? You mean…”

“Wow! You're telling me you were rich this whole time! Can me and Angus like, be your bodyguards or gardeners or something?”

“Your grandad was an apostate, how did…?” Mae asked bewildered. 

“Ha! Well, the estate was your Grandmothers. It passed to her when your great grandparents died. She left it to us after dad went. Uncle Gamlen’s been taking care of it ever since.” 

“That's pretty confusing.”

“Family stuff always is darling.” Candy put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. 

“Mr. and Mrs. Hawke we can’t possibly impose…” Angus began only to be elbowed in the ribs by Gregg.

“Nonsense.” Candy began, “Friends of Mae’s are a friend to the family. We will have plenty of space back in Kirkwall and we are all too happy to share while you all get on your feet.” 

“I hate to interrupt.” Began Bea, “But, I hear fighting down the trail.”

That got them moving. They soon found out why they had been relatively free of the Darkspawn for the past few hours.

Up ahead they spotted Darkspawn swarming a hill, atop were two figures, a man and a woman, desperately holding them off. Each had taken wounds, and the man in particular looked to be worse off. The woman fought like one possessed to keep them off, her sword singing as she cut the head of a Genlock clean off. 

“They will not have you. Not while I breathe.” The woman not so much as cried, but stated as fact. 

What was worse was that everyone recognized them, “Oh eff, its Aunt Squire and Uncle Templar!” Mae shouted.

“Lets go help them!” Gregg shouted, as the gang charged into the ranks of darkspawn. 

Gregg started off the fight planting a bolt straight into the head of a Hurlock, Angus followed in soon after, mace and shield shoving a path through the darkspawn. Bea channeled cold down to her fingertips and with a magic infused snap froze a trio of Genlocks attempting to flank them. 

“Honey, stick by me!” Father and Daughter pushed into the thick of it, the family longsword getting more practice in years and Mae... well Mae....

“Come and get it slimeballs!” She cried, swinging her pointy stick around in a vaguely threatening manner. 

“Mae! Remember what we talked about,” Bea cried out, “Just imagine Steven Scriggin’s face and....”

“Not the right time!” She blurted, but in the process released a burst of lightning from her staff, frying a darkspawn about to be on top of Auntie Squire.

Together the gang took down the remaining Darkspawn, as they finished off the last of the ones writhing on the ground, they found a sword drawn on them once more.

“Apostate! Keep back” The Templar called to his wife. He held his arm out in a protective gesture to his wife, he was clearly fighting off total exhaustion. Stan, Gregg and even Candy stepped forward, putting themselves between their mages and the Templar. 

“Wesley it's fine, you remember little Margaret don’t you?” Aunt Squire said with some discomfort. 

“Your niece she’s…” This shock seems to have given the man back some spirit, “That is why they left, Aveline?” He turned back to the gang, “The order dictates.” He said.

“Ser Wesley, I recognize you. You can put your sword away, these mages are in my care. They are no apostates.” Angus said, stepping forward. 

It took Wesley a moment, “Yes, I recognize you. Recruit Angus, I believe it is.” The stocky man nodded, Wesley paused, “I can accept that, for now.” he said as he sheathed his blade. 

“Wow. That was quick.” Mae blurted out. 

“One more sword between us and the darkspawn is good in my book.” Gregg commented, but a quick share of looks with his boyfriend put doubt on his confidence. 

“My duty is clear, but that is for another day.” The party seemed to accept this.  
“For now we move with you,” Said Aunt Aveline, “The north is cut off. We barely escaped the main body of the horde.” 

This news was a blow, everyone exchanged worried glances, Mae’s mother began to pray silently, Bea bowed her head in thought. Gregg was panicked.

“Wait, then we’re trapped!” He exclaimed, “There’s nothing to the South but the wilds!”

“We’re not running straight into the horde. We go South.” Angus made the call, everyone else, indecisive looked to Mae.

“What? You heard him. South we go!”

They trudged on for another couple of hours together. They were mostly silent, as the land itself. The blight kills everything it touches, plants, animals, even corpses refuse to rot because no mushrooms or insects will live in a place infested by darkspawn. Once in a while they would pause and hide, hoping to avoid arousing a darkspawn patrol. It was dusk and the sun was setting when the group suddenly stopped at the rise of a barren hill.

“Did you guys feel that?” It was Bae who spoke up, “I felt a tremor.”

“Oh no. Oh no. Oh no no no.” Gregg had his crossbow at the ready. He knew what was coming.

Angus already had his mace out, “What is it bug?”

“Ogre!” Aveline cried, diving out of the way as a giant darkspawn came charging forth from up the slope of the hill, hidden by the ridgeline. 

Mae stood frozen in fear with her mother by her side, she told her body to move but it wouldn’t listen. Candy too seemed possessed. It was Stanley Hawke who stepped forward in the path of the giant, greatsword at the ready, “No. Get back!” He called out, shaking them out of the stupor. 

Candy stepped out of the way, Mae raised her staff up ready to protect her mother. Her father tried to go in and keep the beast away from the both of them. He struck, but his sword bounced harmlessly over the darkspawn’s tough hide. The Ogre was at least four meters tall with razor sharp teeth and claws. Mae’s father tried to circle the beast but was simply too slow. The Ogre caught the man’s leg and hoisted him up and then slammed him back down on the ground.

They all heard a sickening crunch before the Ogre tossed the man aside like a broken doll.

It is in these moments for most people that they simply do what is automatic to them. You can tell what kind of a person someone is when they’ve just been put into a situation of immense pain and anger. I’ve heard it said by some that this is a person's truest self. 

Facing this, what did Margaret Hawke do? 

Something stupid.

“Argh! Come at me you stupid bullbitch!” She taunted the beast, firing bolts of lighting at the thing and racing around its side drawing its attention. The thing roared after her. 

Now the thing about Mae being stupid is that Gregg sees that as a challenge to be stupider. 

“Keep him distracted.” The lad shouted as he mounted a nearby rock formation. 

“Bug no! What are you doing?” Angus rushed in to help. Slamming the creature once in its side and blocking a heavy blow with his shield that sent him sprawling. Before it could capitalize on that a fist made of earth and rock slammed into its chest sending it back. Bea followed it up with a bolt of flame that burned a chunk of its disgusting flesh off its chin causing it to howl.

“Good job! Now just a bit closer and…” Gregg stalked up the rock face like a fox ready to pounce, seeing his chance he dove onto the creature’s back. Dropping his crossbow he retrieved his knives from their pouches on his armor and drove them into the Giant’s back again and again. 

The Ogre thrashed with pain and shook itself, Gregg lost his footing and was hurled off. Angus called out after him, while Bea stood there trying to prepare yet another spell. No one saw Mae charging in with her own staff. Her magic channeled the conflict in her mind as a blast of psychic energy, just before used her staff to vault onto the creature’s chest knocking it on its back. 

The Ogre now at her mercy she clubbed the thing’s head in with her staff. Again and again. Till darkspawn blood made funny splotches on the ground. She never knew how long it took before they dragged her off. 

It took sometime for her to realize the fighting had abated. She has moments like this, where she forgets herself in the world. Stops seeing people as people. I’ve asked her to describe it sometime but it never is too clear. Sometimes she worries she is possessed by a demon when she enters a state like that, but we’ve seen plenty of that in Kirkwall. No, this is just something that is a part of her. 

She gradually became aware that the shape on the ground over there was her father lying in a pool of his own blood. Unmoving. At some point Aveline and Wesley returned, they had been keeping the darkspawn off of them while they fought the Ogre. "He tried to protect you, we always tried so hard to protect you." Her mother spoke softly, Mae only looked at the shape that was once her father. She remembered starting to hear Wesley speaking faintly, praying for the soul of an apostate’s son.

He commended Stanley’s soul to The Maker, her friends stood by as vigil. It was quick, but it was time everyone had desperately needed. Mae didn't think it was enough she wanted to stay here for days and weeks and mourn. She wanted to go back home to Lothering climb up into her room and sleep for a decade. She wanted him back. She wanted Grandad back. She wanted more time. She wanted time to hurt.

Unfortunately none of them had time, the shapes of her friends and family were joined by other now familiar shapes. That of darkspawn. 

They were all exhausted, they had been running and fighting all day. Now there were dozens of the creatures closing in on them. Mae had no more the strength to fight than anyone else. 

The next moments passed like a dream. The darkspawn surrounding them were suddenly burned away, scorched by fire. The source. A great high dragon that came down from the sky and destroyed them all. Her friends, family turned to flee from this new danger. But not her. 

As the dragon landed it was she that stepped forward, called by it. She pressed on into the smoke.

In the smoke the dragons form shrunk and disappeared to mist. In its place was a woman. Tall and regal, but also old, so old as to be ancient but also ageless. Dressed in the manner of a mage of long ago.

She walked, clutching her side. 

“Well, Well…” the strange shapeshifter said as she approached, “What have we here?”

Mae thought she heard Aunt Squire shout something, she couldn’t tell what it was, there was a commotion going on behind her. Stop it, Mae she thought to herself. Stay focused, on. Well. Anything but the danger. Talk to the oddly attractive shapeshifter. 

“Hi. How did you do that? I wanna learn how to trick people into thinking I’m a dragon!”

The odd lady smiled at that, “Perhaps I am a dragon. Hm? If so count yourself lucky, the smell of burning darkspawn does nothing for the appetite.”

“I know, right? Honestly, if I ate anything right now I’d probably puke. I have a weak stomach.”

“Hmm… a weak stomach you say? Yet when I spotted you all from the air I saw a most curious sight… a mighty ogre slain! Now who could perform such a feat?”

“That would be me, I guess.” 

“Oh no need to be so humble. I saw it all, you standing atop the beast triumphant! You really need to give yourself more credit.” 

“Yeah. Well. I’ll try.”

“Good. Now, I should let you know, if you wish to flee the darkspawn you are headed in the wrong direction.” She turned to walk away.

“Hey Wait!” Mae called after. “You can’t just leave us here!”

“Can I not? You are safe, for now, and my curiosity is sated. Is that not enough?”

“We need to leave, away from here, to Kirkwall! We could all ride on your back there. Like Grey Wardens on their giant chickens!”

She laughed at this, “Indeed? Well I’m afraid I am no ‘giant chicken’, and that is quite the journey you plan. Do you suppose your king will miss you?”

“Eff the King, he’s dead anyway!” 

She had a look of amusement, and something else in her eye as the shapeshifter turned back in thought, “I see.”

After a moment, Mae called out “So… what is it.”

The shapeshifter regarded her anew, “Little creature. You are swimming further and further out to sea, and beyond are things blind and terrible, hurtled into chaos, you will fight, and the world will shake before you.” 

Mae narrowed her eyes, “What the hell does that mean?”

The shapeshifter ignored her, “Is it fate or chance I can never decide…” She muttered to herself. “It seems fortune smiles on you today, I may help you yet.”

“Awesome, that's great. So will you take us now or?”

“Mae be careful, do you know who you are talking to?” Bea was now by her side, “She is a Witch of the Wilds.”

“Some call me that.” Said Flemeth, “Also Arsha Bellinar, or old hag that talks too much.”

“I like that last one.” Said Mae.

“Hmm. Perhaps I should introduce you to my daughter sometime. I think you two would get along nicely.” 

Gregg and Angus, came back. They weren’t just shapes anymore nor was Wesley who was slumped up against the cliffside. Just like…

No, she couldn’t deal with that right now. Focus.

“We can’t trust her, Mae. She’s a Witch, who knows what she has planned.” Angus said, with his shield at the ready.

“We don’t really have a choice, we can’t exactly fly over the horde ourselves.” Bea said, stepping to Mae’s side. 

Also by her side was Gregg, “I’m with you on this one Cap’n we can figure out a way through this without her. Besides she still hasn’t said what she wants from us.”

“Maybe she just cares a lot about us and wants to do a good deed.”

Flemeth laughed at this, “Good. Keep that naivety, it will help you in what is to come. But, I do need something of you for passage past the horde, a small delivery not far out of your way. Do this for me, and I’ll consider it a deal.”

“Take the offer,” Aveline said, “Wesley is injured. We’ll never escape the darkspawn on foot.”

“If you need to, leave me behind.” Said Wesley, clearly in worsening pain. 

“I said I would drag you out and I meant it.” Aveline said, also in her own kind of pain. 

She knew what she had to do, “Whatever it is I’ll do it, I mean, I can’t make any promises if its fragile it’ll be in one piece but by the Maker it will get there.”

Flemeth nodded, “I wouldn’t worry about that,” She said, “There is a clan of Dalish Elves near Kirkwall, deliver this amulet to their keeper Marathari. Do as she asks with it and any debt will be paid in full.”

“Right, Amulet, Elves, Keeper Marathari. I can do that.”

“There is another matter…” Flemeth's eyes turned to the prone Wesley. 

Aveline stoic and resolute bade them to stay away, “No, leave him alone.”

“The corruption is already inside his blood.” 

“You lie.” 

But Westley nodded at this, “I can feel it in me already. I knew when it happened, Aveline.”

Her friends gathered behind her. Mae didn’t want to deal with this, damnit. 

“There must be something we can do?” Gregg asked

“The only way I know of is to become a Grey Warden.” Flemeth said.

“And… they all died at Ostagar.” Said Bea.

“Not all.” Flemeth said. “But those that remain are beyond your reach, we have not long, he will succumb soon.”

Wesley said something to Aveline, Mae didn’t hear what it was. She felt the world slipping again into shapes and sounds. Shapes that were arguing. Sounds that were mad.

“I’ll do it.” She heard herself say. To stop the fighting. 

It did. They went silent. The withinging silver rectangle calling itself Wesley gave her knife. She drew a line of red on his throat. The shape thanked her as a river leaked out.

“It gets no easier. Your struggles have just begun.” Was what she remembers last. It's funny. Even though the rest of the world was swept away, Flemeth still remained.

**Author's Note:**

> So a Dragon Age/Night In the Woods Crossover huh... I think I might be the first. 
> 
> This is an... experiment to say the least. Expect me to jump around a lot. I don't normally write fanfic anymore but this idea kept popping into my head. Chloie if you find this, this is your fault for getting me into Night In the Woods. I hope you get Dragon Age spoilers and choke on them and die. 
> 
> This is a fusion fic so things might get a bit weird. Yes, the Gang is standing in for Hawke's siblings and Mae herself has more than a little bit of Sarcastic Hawke influence. Malcolm Hawke is Grandad as you may have picked up. I know I could potentially be pissing off two Fandoms by writing characters wrong or just messing up the lore but this is happening. I can't stop it. So just let it happen huh?


End file.
